City Council, February 28th - Skybridge Removal - Updated

Though the Meyer Farm will get most of the attention, there are several other items to note at Council for Monday.

The item most exciting here is positive movement on removing one of the skybridges that detract from sidewalk vitality downtown.

One skybridge over Center Street to be removed
Two others on the block appear to be retained

It's not without complication, however. Because the Mall is in Receivership, the bank

will only fund capital expenses directly related to tenant leases or operations. Removal of the skybridge is not directly related to tenant operations or leases.

The Recievership is "supportive" of removal, and wants the City to pay for it. They are asking for "an exemption to grant funding guidelines to pay up to $200,000 and 100% of the costs to remove the skybridge between Salem Center and former Nordstrom building.

Ultimately that's defensible, if not ideal. It is a kind of crosswalk rehabilitation. It will improve downtown and is, by subtraction, an actual investment in downtown value.

I had hoped the one across Liberty to the former JC Penney building (at no. 2 in the aerial) would be removed also, but it is not included in any action right now.

Previously see:

• "Skybridges as Pedestrian Displacement Systems: Shelter, but anti-Sidewalk" (2016)
• "End the Failed Skybridge Experiment Downtown; Refocus on Housing" (2020)
• "Nordstrom Project may Remove Anti-Pedestrian Skybridges" (2021)
  

There is a proposal to look at City investments with an eye to, among other things, fossil fuel production and distribution.

In early 2021, the Finance Committee asked staff to begin researching incorporating ESG factors into the City’s investment policy.

ESG is Environmental, Social and Corporate governance, and the City specifically mentions fossil fuel: "Cannot be a company in the industries of energy services, oil & gas producers or refiners & pipelines." That seems promising! (Though does "energy services" exclude hypothetically a business operating solar at scale?)

Enhanced crosswalk on Commercial at Triangle Dr.

There are two housekeeping items on the project for middle Commercial arising from the Commercial-Vista Corridor Study: 

• An agreement with ODOT for right-of-way services
• Property acquisition for a couple of small bites to site the flashing beacon on the edge between the tavern and pizza business across the street from Triangle Drive. There's a fire hydrant, sign, and utility vault right there, and it looks like that little patch of infrastructure will grow.
  

The agenda items call it the "buffered bike lane" project, but specifically here we are talking about a crosswalk, and it might be better to use that more specific label.

There is meaningful demand for a crosswalk here!

Additionally, back in 2019 at the MPO it looked like this crosswalk was getting deleted. "Revise [project] description to remove the Rapid Rectangular Flashing Beacons near Triangle Dr SE and Waldo Ave SE."

But the Staff Report says "a pedestrian crossing with a Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon at Triangle Drive SE."

So hopefully the more recent description is correct and the flashing beacon is back. Maybe the deletion was just about changes in funding source or phasing. But something to watch a little.

Resolving the zone between NEN and NESCA

I would not have guessed that assigning the new park area and Jory Apartments at the former North Campus of the State Hospital to a neighborhood association would be disputed, but apparently it is. 

Staff recommends NESCA win the prize and redrawing NESCA's boundaries accordingly. Even though the park itself is going nowhere, the correspondence from NEN represents this as some great loss. But drawing the boundary for NEN would be like a mini-gerrymander through the cemetery. The existing boundary also roughly corresponds with the city limit of 1903, so it's not like it's some arbitrary thing. The tone of the dispute is very odd, and perhaps there is a real subtext that is not being mentioned explicitly.

Finally there is the annual report from the Historic Landmarks Commission. See one note last week on the HLC newsletter and the way transportation doesn't fit into the preservation framework very well and a note in January.

Over the weekend there will be more to say on the Meyer Farm and some other land use items.

Postscript, June 27th

They did it! Over the weekend, and with some delay as the structure turned out to be much beefier than expected, they removed it. 

(I do wonder if it could have been repurposed as a footbridge over a creek somewhere.)

Front page, June 27th